Challenge Accepted
by themanonthemoon
Summary: "Oh yeah? Doesn't it bother you that my face, this absolutely cool immortal face, will never change?" the Doctor said daringly. He felt he had never been this brave. Then again River always made him feel brave and other things...


Galaxis Bright was a planet with trees that reached so high in the sky that if you dared to climb one, you would probably end up touching one of the millions of stars that peppered the eternally dark sky.

"Nobody knows it, because nobody's tried it… except for me of course," the Doctor said, flashing a cocky smile at his wife as she purposefully looked at the stars above her rather than the sparkling light in her husband's eyes.

"And if you managed to go up there, you'll find that-"

"That all the stars are collinear? That if you looked past a string of those stars you would only see one, but still feel the shimmer of a hundred? Like a tail of a comet?"

So absorbed in the moment, the Doctor nodded, grinned and chuckled at the same time. "Oh, yes ! And don't forget the – "

Then there was a pause.

And the penny drops.

River turned and flashed one of _her_ cocky smiles as she saw her husband's jaw unhinge and fall to the ground.

"Don't tell me you're surprised, Sweetie," she said, throwing him a knowing look as she caressed his chin.

The Doctor gulped, his cheeks flaring. "Riverrrrr… why didn't you tell me you've been here before?" he whined. "I thought this would be a brilliant surprise! I thought you would like this place…"

"But I do, my love," she said sidling up to him, watching the static sparkling white dots in the purple sky above them. "Which was why I wanted to come here again."

The Doctor gave an unconvincing look at his wife who simply looked back nonchalantly. Was that a beginning of a pout on her lips?

_Oh dear._ He sighed.

"I never thought of it that way," shrugged the Doctor. And he wasn't complaining. He sort of liked the way her hair was against his neck and how his arm was wrapped around her waist. He looked down at her even though all he could really see were her soft golden corkscrews and the bridge of her nose.

"It's just adventures for River Song usually involve guns and angry Sontarans…As a matter of fact, angry enemies, lets put it that way, angry _people_ who don't like us," his hands flew wildly in front of him to accentuate his point. River scowled. "Generally, adventures with River Song are dangerous and thrilling and very often life threatening."

River Song looked at her husband. "Thrilling doesn't always mean running from danger, or towards it…"

"Wha-" The Doctor's eyes widened. "I thought I'd ever hear that coming from you," he said in a hushed voice that feigned astonishment.

"I wonder why…," she drawled sarcastically. "Don't stereotype me, Sweetie. I'm your wife," she poked his chest, and suddenly the Doctor saw Rory the Roman in her as she looked dead centre in his eyes. "Don't ever forget that."

The Doctor frowned at her dramatically as he leaned back, taking River down with him.

"Nah, I think we're just getting old."

River scoffed, abruptly siting up and crossing her arms. The Doctor raised an eyebrow and stared sadly at the cold empty space in his arms. _Now what?_ He sighed.

"Purposely directing those jabs to your wife is really cold, Doctor."

The Doctor frowned, unsurprisingly confused.

"Jabs? I was only telling the truth , River!" the Doctor replied unwisely. He was always unintentionally stupid when he was oblivious. A fact River should have known by now!

Instead, she turned away from her husband and inhaled deeply, her shoulders heaving upwards.

_Oh, Gallifrey was she crying? _

"River, I didn't mean... I'm sorry. Please River look at me..." He tried, afraid to provoke her further. She wasn't usually this sensitive.

"We are a bunch of old crones aren't we?" She mumbled thickly. Now the Doctor was sure she was crying.

The Doctor trained his attention to the silhouette of her back.

"We're different. Time lord DNA means we age physically slower than everyone else. That makes us live longer. You know that, River," he said uncomfortably.

He didn't like bringing this particular topic up. Immortality was such a fragile subject. And River seemed to bring it up quite often nowadays.

He was threading on thin ice.

"But unlike you, my age reflects on my appearance. You look like a bouncing baby next to me." She sniffed - making the Doctor's eyes well with emotion.

Realizing that silence would only worsen the current state of affairs,

The Doctor quickly scrambled to regain his composure. With a huff of his breath, he said sternly, "River we've talked about this... You are still the most beautiful-Wait!"

The Doctor watched in horror as her body curled forward, her hands covering her face. No. No. No.

Red lights flashed in his mind. Nuclear missiles spontaneously exploded. Flailing of the arms commenced. The Doctor was in a state of emergency. Words just tumbled out of his mouth. Honest words that didn't cut his certain set of personal rules, particularly the first one.

"I love you, River Song. Don't you dare cry. Don't you dare shed a tear or so help me I will actually respond to people when they tell me, to stick with my mommy in the supermarket so that I. DON'T. GET. LOST !"

The haze of red that clouded his vision subsided. Suddenly all was clear. The storm had passed.

He saw her form wrack violently, almost comically before him.

It was then he realised he had been hoodwinked - absolutely pranked to the first degree that he finally felt realization ( and embarrasment) douse him like ice cold water tipped from a hidden bucket above a door.

He scowled as he watched his wife, distracting dress and all, roll on the ground before him in fits of giggles.

"Supermarket? Seriously sweetie? We have never been to a supermarket together before" River laughed, her voice was watery and her eyes were glittering with mirth.

"It's bound to happen," muttered the Doctor, literally rubbing the heat away from his cheeks with his hands.

River sighed as she settled once again in her husband's arms in which he reluctantly complied. River found that she enjoyed his incoherent mutters, especially when he was flustered.

"I swear there isn't a time I can't make you red cheeked. All the more reason to come up with more scenarios," she said suggestively, recalling the times she had slapped him, kissed him. The latter was almost uncountable.

She felt his arms tighten around her possessively.

"Is that a challenge, Ms Song?"

His breath was warm against the lobe of her ear.

River grinned and kissed the corner of his mouth.

"All the more reason," she repeated.

"Oh yeah? Doesn't it bother you that my face, this absolutely cool immortal face, will never change?"the Doctor said daringly. He felt he had never been this brave. then again River always made him feel brave and other things... His eyes were locked on hers. He swore he saw stars.

River smiled, her skin stretched taut on her face. She smacked her ruby red lips.

The Doctor's mouth dried. He could only watch as her eyelashes touched her cheeks when she leaned towards him.

"It's a challenge I am willing to accept."


End file.
